Ever since she got the courage to take the step and ask for help, Megara's life had changed. She wished she had learned not to be so ashamed of needing help earlier in her life. It would've helped if her parents didn't heap so much shame on her and her brothers for lacking independence.

Hercules summoned a blue blanket and dozens of gold, blue, and purple pillows. The gesture was so thoughtful that Megara could cry.

"Is something wrong?" he asked. "Do you want more pillows?"

She had to fight her constricting throat to speak. "Oh no… it's… it looks wonderful… Thank you."

"You're sure?" Hercules leaned in a little closer to examine her face. "You look like you're about to cry."

"There aren't a lot of people who're nice to me," she explained.

He frowned. "I'm not letting that go, but how about we talk about something pleasant for now? What would you like to eat today?"

"Oh! Am I choosing?"

"I don't know that much about mortal food. What's good?"

"Honey cakes… spinach pies… grilled meat…"

"Which meat? Someone's offering me some beef right now. I can take the scent of it and turn it into the real thing for us."

"I'll take that then!"

"Done!" Hercules nodded toward the blanket, and a blink later, it was strewn with a collection of every bounty she could think of. "You like grapes, too, right?" He lifted a bowl full of them.

"Of course!" Megara took one from him and popped it into her mouth. "It's traditional to sit. You first, I'll figure out where I fit when I see how much space you take up."

"Why not take the same space as me?" he winked, ate a bunch of grapes off the stem, and then flopped onto his side on the pillows. "Where'd you like to sit now?"

Megara considered and looked around the empty fields. Once she was sure nobody was watching, she daintily knelt near his chest. "This is a softer blanket than I thought it'd be."

"It's one of mine from Olympus," Hercules said, reaching past her for a beef skewer. "The pillows are from one of Aphrodite's misdirected attempts to make my room look less Spartan."

"They're pretty," Megara petted a silk pillow and then lay down on it. The branches of the tree that shaded them rustled with the same soothing rhythm of waves against the shore. She could fall asleep here with Hercules, but then she'd miss this time with him.

Hercules stretched out an arm behind the pillow her head rested on and propped her up. He lay close to her and kissed her cheek. "I'm so glad you're here with me… I can't believe what you've been through this week. You deserve a break."

"Any time with you is instantly better," Megara told him. "I love the sound of your voice…"

He gasped in pure delight. "I love your voice, too!"

"Then I guess we should keep talking, huh?"

"Yeah!"

"I'm glad you kept your voice the same even though you've changed your appearance." She reached up to scratch the line of his jaw and sighed. "It feels a little bit like I'm spending the day with a stranger."

"I thought I should hide myself even though I sort of flew out here and used my godly powers… There's a chance none of the other gods noticed."

"Then maybe I should get to know Alcides. "I'm guessing his favorite color is blue?"

"That's a safe bet," he chuckled. "I don't know if it's my favorite, but it's the color of the stuff people tend to give me, and that doesn't bother me. So I guess it's my favorite, but I'll go for anything as long as it's nice."

"Can you guess what my favorite color is?"

He turned away so he didn't guffaw directly into her face. His laughter had her joining in before he spoke. "No, you don't really give any hints. It's too subtle for me to figure out."

The laughter only got stronger now that he'd shown off his attempt to mimic her sarcasm.

"You're so cute sometimes." Hercules bent lower to kiss her brow and sighed. "Here." he picked up a flaky, triangular square of spinach pie and offered her a corner.

Megara didn't let her blush stop her from nibbling that corner off and savoring its contents. "It's like a team of chefs prepared it all for us. I can't believe you'd do all of this for me."

"Why not? Don't you deserve it?"

"Obviously, you're the only person who thinks so."

"Then I'll have to care extra for everyone!" He punctuated his decision by offering her more of the spinach pie. "But you know what? I'm gonna make more people care! Everyone ought to know how great you are!"

Megara shook her head and rolled her eyes at his exuberance. "Good luck with that. What's my boyfriend's family do for a living? Since I'm a princess, all the guys they've tried to set me up with were kings and princes."

"Then I should be a prince, too!"

"Of what, though? That lie is too easy to disprove. We'll need something more solid."

"Uh… what do… mortals… do?"

"Farming, mainly. In the city, you can get people who work in all sorts of trades, though. Maybe we'll leave that one alone for now, and you can dodge that question if it comes up. By the way, how long are you planning to stay on Earth with me?"

"Is forever too long?"

She snickered. "Sorry, Herc, I'm a little short on forever."

"Not for long." Now that she'd finished the pie, he kissed her forehead and picked up a skewer for her instead. "My father might think it's stupid of me to be with you because I'll blink, and then you'll be dead. But he doesn't know how hard I'll fight for you."

Megara took the opportunity to eat the beef he offered to mull that over. "Are we doomed if Zeus doesn't want you to be with me?"

"No, we're not doomed. My father might not always be reasonable, but I'm not afraid to play the 'favorite son' card if it'll help you. We've got a couple of examples from history, like Ariadne and Psyche. Even if there's been a pause, we don't have to assume he'll never make an exception to his rules."

"Have you considered if there'll be consequences for having a mortal turn immortal?"

"The cosmos will improve, that's for sure."

"What about you spending time with me? Will the God of Heroism be missed?"

"Unlikely," he shrugged. "Nobody really needs me for anything on Olympus. That's why it's always been so dull up there. You're the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me, and I'm ready to stick by you until you get sick of me."

"If nobody is looking for you, maybe you could change back into yourself. I miss your face."

Hercules glanced at the cloudless sky. "It might be safe." He shifted his features back into their recognizable Herculean state. His clothes even transformed from stiff linen to luxurious silk robes. The only change she recognized was how he hid his aura. "This'll make it slightly less obvious," he explained. "If someone's passing by, we'll just be a pair of aristocrats enjoying time away from our servants."

Megara traced the familiar lines of his nose and jawline and sighed. "Thank you."

"No, thank you for making life worthwhile. You deserve to be a goddess. My father will see it eventually."

"What if I don't?"

"You do." He offered her a honey cake. "We just have to figure out what you'll be the goddess of because beauty and wisdom are already taken."

Her heart raced so quickly that she could only stare at him momentarily. Then she took the honey cake, but found he was sweeter still than the honey.

"There's still the prophecy to consider. Teiresias has never been wrong. He speaks for the gods. Your parents put the words in his mouth that I was destined to die for love."

"Shh," he ate another of the honey cakes in two bites. "Don't be afraid of anything. Let me take care of these things for you, okay?" He pouted into the sky for a moment, making Megara want to kiss him again. He broke her concentration on her daydreams when he said, "Die for love could mean a few things, right? It could be metaphorical."

She might've made a few comments about his propensity for critiquing prophecies as if they were poetry, but she didn't want to ruin the mood. "Why not ask Apollo? He's your brother and the God of Prophecy, so he should have some insights."

"Great idea!"

"In the meantime, where are we going to meet up? Alcides doesn't have a house for me to visit."

"Uh…" he pouted again in thought.

Megara leaned up to peck his lips with a light kiss this time. "I love it when you do that mouth thing," she told him by way of explanation.

"Which mouth thing?" he kissed her again, but with more toe-curling passion. "Or was it this one?" He pressed a searing kiss to the side of her neck.

"Ah… well, I love those, too. But when you're disappointed or irritated, you pout, and it makes me think of how much I love the shape of your lips."

He traced hers with his fingertip. "I love the shape of your mouth, too. And what you say. And how you say it…" He pressed a hand to his chest. "If I was mortal, could I die for how much I love you? Maybe that would fulfill your prophecy."

"You wouldn't die. I'd keep you alive!" Megara squeezed his fingers against his heart. "But maybe we need to think of a place we can go that nobody's going to get in our way so we can plan more."

"They're building me that temple soon. Whatever a god does in his own temple is his business." He tilted his head as a sly gleam entered his eyes. "You could visit me there."

"And… what if you needed someone to preside over festivals and such in your honor? Maybe a priest named Alcides?"

Hercules's brows rose. "Then he'd have a house!"

"And… maybe he'd need help!" She hadn't even fully thought out the words that she spoke, but impressions of the two of them dressed in holy robes and then sneaking off after a ritual to be together were quickly forming in her mind. "What if he married a priestess for his patron deity, and they lived on earth as symbolically the divine and the mortal living together? Do you think your father would object?"

"It's the most brilliant idea ever hatched!" Hercules declared, sitting up and bringing her with him. "We've got to do it!"

The sky had no objection, but the earth below them shook. The instability knocked Megara into Hercules's arms, and he covered her with his body to shield her.

Too close for comfort, a hole opened in the earth, and a creature with two heads, each sporting one eye, climbed out.

"Look! It's the mortals Hades promised us!" One head exclaimed.

"That one doesn't look so mortal…" the other one replied.

"Don't be stupid! He said there'd be mortals having a picnic under a tree! Do you see any other trees with picnics?"

"Let me handle this," Hercules said in a low, commanding voice. "Don't worry." He kissed the top of her head as he disentangled from her. "I won't be long."